In the USA baseball is a quite-popular sport, even if no longer
the
most-popular sport, and this Idea was partly inspired by last
night's "World Series" game, between the champion National
League team, and the champion American League team, that
lasted for 14 innings instead of the usual 9.
We
need two modifications of the normal rules for this game.
First, there is a rule regarding player-replacements. Only 9
people on the baseball field are allowed, for the team pitching
the
ball, and when one is tired and gets replaced (most often the
pitcher), that player is no longer allowed to play in that
particular
game. We rescind that rule for this game.
Second, baseball games are normally played in one of the two
team's cities, such that one time is always the "home" team,
and
the other is always the "visiting" team. Only rarely is this not
the
case ("All-Star" games come to mind, because the players come
from multiple teams/cities). Normally, the visiting team gets
the
first part ("top") of each inning to bat the ball, and the home
team
gets the second part ("bottom") of each inning to bat the ball.
As
explained-why below, for this neutral-ground game we want to
modify that rule so, for each inning, the teams alternate
between
which bats in the top of the inning, and which bats in the
bottom
of the inning.
We flip a coin or something, to decide whether the National
League or the American League bats first. The line-up of
batters
is alphabetical order, or some other random thing, with respect
to
the players' abilities. The group of players taking the field is
equally random. Because this is a FRIENDLY game, the teams
don't need to be especially cut-throat in trying to win.
Nevertheless, at the top of each inning, the at-bat team tries
its
best to score, and the fielding team tries its best to prevent
scores. Whatever the result, at the bottom of the inning, both
teams cooperate in ensuring that the score is tied at the end of
the inning, when the third "out" is declared. For example, if
nothing was scored in the top of the inning, the batters might
deliberately swing/miss in the bottom of the inning. To match
some other score, the pitcher might deliberately walk batters,
or
throw easy balls that could lead to home runs; the fielders could
walk instead of run toward a ball, and so on. Some extra
batters might be allowed to reach the bases, and then be
deliberately stranded (not counted as part of the score) when
the inning ends. The variety of
ways
employed to ensure the inning ends with a tie could be
interesting,
all by itself.
See why the at-bat team in the bottom of the inning needs to be
the at-bat team at the top of the next inning? NOW they can
try
their best to score! --while the other team tries its best to
prevent scores. Note a possible beneficial side-effect here, in
which all players can get practice playing all positions in the
field, due to the alphabetical (or other random) assignments of
players to the "currently active" list in this game.
Remember, in baseball the game is not normally allowed to end
in
a tie; extra innings are played until the tie is broken. Well, in
THIS friendly game, ties can be broken at the top of an inning,
but
they are always re-tied by the end of the bottom of the inning.
This one game could last for decades! Tired players can go
home,
get sleep, and come back and play some more. Groups of them
can even go off to other cities to play normal baseball games,
as
part of the normal baseball season and post-season. It can take
quite a while for the alphabetical lists of ALL players, in the
American League and the National League, to cycle through the
roster, and start over.
Also, note that the two leagues specified are known as "the
major leagues" --there also exist plenty of "minor league" teams
and players, who mostly are acquiring skills and polishing
talents that could let them be invited to join the majors. I see
no reason not to invite at least some of those players to
participate in this game.